NCJ Number
143166
Journal
Justice System Journal Volume: 16 Issue: 2 Dated: (1993) Pages: 1-5
Date Published
1993
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Many believe that American society has too much law and too many lawyers, spends excessively on legal services and litigation, and has an uncontrolled judiciary and that the civil justice system emphasizes such themes as contingency fee lawyers, juries biased in favor of injury victims, product liability, and medical malpractice litigation.
Abstract
Treating torts as the paradigm of litigation is revealing, since tort claims have a distinctive power to disturb relations and challenge understandings. The focus on tort litigation is related to two themes of concern to the civil justice system: (1) the United States is uniquely afflicted by excessive legalism and litigation; and (2) excessive litigation represents a falling away from the past in which society was self-regulating. American society is a highly legalized society that relies on law and courts to handle many cases and often relies on individualized fault determination to deliver compensation. The concept of the dispute pyramid is applied to tort litigation, a concept in which disputes are constructed by parties and proceed through stages of "naming, blaming, and claiming" to lawyers and sometimes to trial or appellate court. The author notes that civil justice issues involve value choices and therefore political choices with respect to legal services and litigation. 13 footnotes